Winter Wading

You have these options each round:

• Swim forward
• Wade in slowly
• Search the bottom
• Freeze in place
• Swim towards the shore

Which one you should use depends on your position in the lake. You get to read about your current position for clues before choosing each round.

Messages

First round:

Your reflection is at the edge of a pond, which until recently was frozen over. You can see chunks of ice still floating in the water.

Subsequent rounds:

Part 1: Results of your last choice

Note: I'm not sure if "the chill seeps in" message only happens when you're tired or not.

You can also use this chart as a guide for what action to do.

Choice	Obstacle	Message	Result
Swim forward	none, or branches	With diving ability < 3: You swim forward along your floor with your reflection miming your motions in the pond. You can still feel the cold but the movement is keeping you at least a little warmer than you would be otherwise. Or, with diving ability ≥ 3: You swim along your floor awkwardly, but your reflection cuts through the water like a fish. A cold fish, granted, but a fish nonetheless Or, when very tired? with numbing/blinding chill?: You can't feel your legs at the moment, so you don't get nearly as far as you'd like. Or, in a full containment suit: You swim along your floor, a clunky proposition at best in a containment suit, and your reflection valiantly tries to match your actions. You manage a rough doggy paddle. It's not pretty, but you move a little forward.	move 2 forward? 3 with sufficient diving ability? 1 if you can't feel your legs? Ach, who knows?
Swim forward	shifting ice	With diving ability < 3: You try to swim forward, but your reflection ends up tangled in a mass of floating ice. Brrrrrrr. The chill seeps into your flesh, dealing x damage. Or, with diving ability ≥ 3: You swim along your floor awkwardly, but your reflection cuts through the water like a fish. A cold fish, granted, particularly after it gets tangled in that mass of ice. Brrrrr. Or, something else: You swim forward along your floor with your reflection miming your motions in the pond. It makes some progress, but in the end, it's tangled in a mass of floating ice. Brrrrrrr. (no damage)	Stay in place, take damage
Wade in slowly	none, or shifting ice	You back away from the mirror and your reflection heads deeper into the pond. It's slow going and damned cold, but you're definitely making progress.	move one forward
Wade in slowly	branches	You try to maneuver your reflection forward and trip suddenly, your reflection struggling in the water as though its feet are tangled in something. Faced with the prospect of freezing, you thrash your feet against the invisible bonds, but you can feel the gnarled roots tearing against your legs, dealing x damage.	stay in place, take damage
Search the bottom	branches	Getting your reflection to dive takes a couple tries, but you manage, even with the growing cold. Your reflection finds some gnarled roots down there, making you glad you're not tangled up in them.	stay in place (let's you discover if there are branches here)
Search the bottom	none, or shifting ice	In certain less cold or shallower places?: Getting your reflection to dive takes a couple tries, but you manage, even with the growing cold. Your reflection dives deep, but finds nothing other than water and mud. Or, in certain colder places?: Getting your reflection to dive takes a couple tries, but you manage, even with the growing cold. You reflection dives beneath the shifting ice, but quickly has to retreat from the numbing cold. Or, past the heart of the pond (I had blinding chill): Getting your reflection to dive takes a couple tries, but you manage, even with the growing cold. You reflection dives beneath thick blanket of ice, but quickly has to retreat from the unforgiving cold. Gaining a shard: (I was on the edge of the pond, with Numbing Chill) Getting your reflection to dive takes a couple tries, but you manage, even with the growing cold. You reflection dives beneath the shifting ice and finds a glimmering shard in the depths. It looks like more ice but you reach for it… and a shard of the mirror breaks off at your touch. Gah! You found: empty shard	stay in place (tells you whether you can get an empty shard here; with the right chill effect, get empty shard or two), more messages needed
freeze in place	none, or any	Against the advice of every nature show you've ever seen, you hold your reflection's position in the water. The chill seeps into your flesh, dealing x damage. Or, in deep water or further?: Against the advice of every nature show you've ever seen, you hold your reflection's position in the water. Actually, you don't feel the cold nearly as much as you were expecting. Wait… isn't that a bad sign? You've gained 10 energy of Numbing Chill Or, if you already have numbing chill? needs minimum distance testing: works at heart of lake: Against the advice of every nature show you've ever seen, you hold your reflection's position in the water. The numbing cold spreads, making it hard to concentrate or even see. You've gained 10 energy of Blinding Chill. Or, if you already have blinding chill, and are a little ways past the giant chunk? Against the advice of every nature show you've ever seen, you hold your reflection's position in the water. The cold etches itself into you. Whether you're resistant to cold somehow or (message is cut off in game; reported) You've gained 10 energy of Unforgiving Chill.	see messages
Swim towards shore	any	same as "swim forward"	same as "swim forward", except success moves you one back
Wade back	any	same as "Wade in slowly"	same as "wade in slowly", except success moves you one back

Part 2: Are you tired?

You wear yourself out as you spend more time in the lake. We don't know much about how this works: presumably some actions are more tiring than others, and probably Will has something to do with it. (I'd say maybe Strength, but this is a Will-themed area.)

If you're tired you get this message:

You're feeling pretty tired. The cold is starting to get to you.

Note that this appears before the message "The chill seeps into your flesh, dealing x damage" (see part 1). It could be you take more damage if you're tired, or don't take any damage from some results unless you're tired.

Being tired can also change the result of some random obstacles in Part 3.

Part 3: Random obstacles

You can various, seemingly random events unconnected with a location.

Broken Bone:

You crack your leg against a rock and feel something snap.

You've gained 10 energy of Broken Bone.

or if you already have broken bone:

You stumble and twist your broken bone further out of alignment.

You've gained 10 energy of Broken Bone.

observed in the following situations:

action	depth	tired?	diving ability?	chill effect?	already had broken bone?
wade through brances	chest-deep	yes	unknown	none?	no
swimming forward	deep	yes	yes	unknown	no
searching bottom with branches	deep	yes	unknown	numbing chill	yes
swimming forward	chest-deep	no	numbing chill	yes

okay, I just broke a bone while freezing in place. >_<
I assume it's completely random.

Forward current: observed when swimming forward in chest-deep water while tired with diving ability (once)

You're too tired to keep the current from pulling you a little further into the pond.

(presumably moves you an additional space forward)

observed:

action	depth	tired?	diving ability?	chill effect?
swimming forward	chest-deep	yes	yes	unknown
swimming forward	deep	yes	no	numbing chill

Downward current:

Perhaps it's just weariness, but some force pulls your reflection under for a moment before you're able to respond. Your shivers grow even worse.

observed:

action	depth	tired?	diving ability?	chill effect?	damage?
swimming forward	deep	yes	yes	numbing chill	25
swimming forward	chest-deep	yes	no	numbing chill	0
wading forward	largest piece of ice	yes	no	numbing chill	38

note that will might prevent damage

Part 4: Current depth

Depth is determined by how far into the lake you are, and determines what effect you'll get if you freeze in places

I've stopped recording position exactly because we need more spading. I don't think the simple "1 space for the edge, 2 for near the edge" system is correct, given that you can move "not as far as you would like", which would be a fraction of a space under that system.

Position	Message	Freeze in place effect
1	Your reflection is at the edge of a pond, which until recently was frozen over. You can see chunks of ice still floating in the water.	none
2-3	Your reflection is near the edge of a partially frozen pond. It's not very deep, really, but you can feel the chill clear in your living room.	none
4-6	Your reflection is chest-deep in a partially frozen pond. The fact that your clothes are soaked with ice-cold water doesn't help soothe your nerves.	none
5-7ish	Your reflection is deep in a partially frozen pond. The cold is biting, even on the far side of the mirror, and frost is starting to spiderweb over your windows.	Numbing Chill (10)
roughly 8	Your reflection is at the heart of a partially frozen pond. Even in your living room, your breath is coming out like plumes of steam.
roughly 9	same as above, plus: A thick blanket of ice covers the water around your reflection. Glancing around, it's by far the largest piece of remaining ice.
roughly 10	heart message again
?	?	?

Part 5: Current obstacle

Bobbing around your reflection are small pieces of shifting ice.

If this message appears, swimming forward or towards shore will fail.
But apparently it doesn't always tell you there is ice…

Unfortunately, there is no message for hidden branches; you have to search the bottom to find them in advance.

There are possibly other messages further into the lake?

Part 6: DEATH

If you swim out and then back to the shore again:

You make your way back onto the shore. Whoooo, bracing!

If you lose all your hp:

You succumb to the cold and black out, eventually waking on your living room floor.

And for both of the above, gain 5 XP in Will and ends the encounters